West Ham United star Angelo Ogbonna has been handed a surprise recall to the Italy squad, two years after his last call-up.
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Roberto Mancini has selected the popular West Ham defender off the back of his superb form over the last couple of seasons.
Ogbonna was runner-up Hammer of the Year last season.
And the 32-year-old has earned a recall to the Italian national team for the trio of international games against Moldova, Poland and Holland.
Ogbonna gets surprise Italy recall two years after last selection
West Ham are yet to confirm Ogbonna’s selection at the time of writing.
But the Italian national team’s media department posted the squad on Twitter last night.
#Azzurri 🇮🇹
Roberto #Mancini‘s squad for the upcoming international window 💪📋
Article 👉 https://t.co/FW2vSWur22#VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/jksHdUat89
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@azzurri) October 2, 2020
But the Hammers centre-back is expected to join up with the squad for the first time since his last selection back in 2018.
It is thoroughly deserved. And West Ham fans will not be surprised given his performances.
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But at 32, Ogbonna’s time looked to have been and gone.
Now David Moyes will just have to hope his star defender avoids injury or Covid-19 during his time abroad.
There are real fears in footballing circles that the October international break could be a recipe for disaster when it comes to positive tests for coronavirus as players from all over Europe and the world meet up to train and play in close proximity to one another.
Ogbonna’s West Ham teammate Tomas Soucek was forced to self-isolate following the last international break although he tested negative for the potentially deadly virus.
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Moyes, Issa Diop and Josh Cullen have missed the last two weeks due to positive Covid-19 tests.
Everyone at West Ham will be keeping their fingers crossed Ogbonna comes back in one piece.
Particularly as West Ham’s efforts to sign a new centre half have so far proved fruitless.
West Ham will have to try and get a deal done. Because should anything happen to Ogbonna during the international break it will be too late to react with the transfer window closing on Monday.